Sirmium
Sirmium was a prominent Roman city located in the region of Pannonia, near the convergence of the rivers Bacuntius and Savus, in present-day Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia. Originally settled by the Amantini tribe, Sirmium was occupied by the Romans around 12-9 BC and later became a significant military hub. It transitioned into a Roman colony under Emperor Vespasian and gained prominence as the capital of the province of Secunda Pannonia. Sirmium served as a critical junction for trade and military routes, attracting visits from several Roman emperors, including Trajan and Marcus Aurelius.
During the Tetrarchy, it evolved into a vital administrative center, housing arms factories and serving as the capital of the praetorian prefect of Illyricum. The city also held ecclesiastical importance, hosting numerous Church Councils. Despite its flourishing status, Sirmium faced destruction from invasions by the Huns and Avars, leading to its decline by the 6th century. Recent archaeological excavations have uncovered remnants of its grand imperial palace, barracks, and other significant structures, highlighting its historical and cultural legacy.
Subject Terms
Sirmium
(Sremska Mitrovica)
A Roman city in Pannonia (Yugoslavia) situated at the junction of the river Bacuntius with the Savus (Save), west of its junction with the Danube. Originally a settlement of the Amantini tribe, the place was occupied by the Romans during their conquest of Pannonia (12–9 BC). Attached at first to the province of Illyricum, it received mention during the widespread revolt of AD 6–9, after which separate provinces of Illyricum (Dalmatia) and Pannonia were created, and Sirmium thereafter belonged to the latter.
In the subsequent years of the same century it became an important military base, and, when its legionary or auxiliary garrison left, was probably elevated to the rank of a Roman colony (Colonia Flavia) by Vespasian (69–79)—although an important role was retained by the native population. When Pannonia was divided into two provinces by Trajan (c 103), Sirmium found itself assigned to the Lower province, in which it derived great importance from its fleet station on the Save, and from its position at the junction of roads linking Italy, Dalmatia and the Danube. Trajan himself visited the city, and so did Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximinus I and Gallienus, on one of whose coinages appear the letters S.P., interpreted as Secunda Pannonia, the name of the late imperial province of which Sirmium became the capital.
The emperors Trajanus Decius, Aurelian, Probus, Maximian, Gratian and Constantius II were all born in the vicinity of the city. Under the Tetrarchy of Diocletian and Maximian, and especially from the time of Galerius (305–11), it became one of the principal centers and strongholds of the Roman world, and the military and governmental headquarters of many rulers, including Constantine I the Great, the founder of a major mint at Sirmium (320–26) which resumed activity during the middle and later part of the same century. Sirmium was the capital of the praetorian prefect of Illyricum (one of the principal administrators of the empire), and housed important arms factories. It was also of great ecclesiastical significance, becoming the location of several Church Councils. But the Huns destroyed or severely damaged its buildings, and as a result (a law of Justinian I records) the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was moved to Thessalonica (Salonica) c 441/42. Sirmium was finally destroyed by the Avars before 582.
During the later empire it must have possessed a great imperial palace, of which recent excavators claim to have at last revealed traces, together with the remains of a Constantinian barracks and hippodrome, attached to the palace; the hippodrome was later reconstructed. Parts of the Baths of Licinius (308–24) have also been uncovered, as well as a large warehouse or granary of the same period, a row of shops, rich private houses—one of which, containing geometric floor mosaics of the fourth or fifth century, lies under the present Sremska Museum—and sections of the city wall, comprising successive structural phases of the third and early fourth centuries AD.